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Friday, February 4, 2011

A Random Look at Theme Songs: The Brady Theme

This will start what will be occasional look at a TV theme songs. I like TV theme songs. I have almost 300 on my iPod. So every now and then, I'll do a post on them. This is the first.

Everybody knows the theme song to the Brady Bunch. The catchy tune, the simple lyrics that tell you all you need to know about the family from before the series began, the blue boxes with each actor looking around at each other. It may, in fact, be the single most well known theme song in TV history.

But where the theme song really hit its stride was with the spinoffs. Oh, the spinoffs.

You see, while The Brady Bunch was unbelievably campy and outrageously cheesy, it was also very successful, and there was a constant attempt to cash in on that success.

The spinoffs (there were three) were horrible. None lasted more than one season. But they also all had one thing going for them...

An incredible theme song.

Yes, each spinoff kept the melody of the original, but altered the lyrics to fit the show.

The first was the most ridiculous. The Brady Kids was a cartoon that followed an animated Marcia, Jan, Cindy, Greg, Peter, and Bobby in their adventures along with a dog, two pandas, and a magical bird. Seriously. The theme song? Well, watch for yourself:

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I mean, how fantastic is that?

It gets better. Because a few years after the original series was cancelled (thanks in part to the always controversial Cousin Oliver) they decided to do a reunion movie, that turned into a spinoff. But not just any spinoff.

The cheesiest spinoff in TV history.

See, Marcia and Jan both meet men, fall in love, and have a double wedding. But then

The house was too expensive for each coupleThe only way to buy they would decideIs to share the house by moving in togetherThat's the way they all became ...

Well why don't you listen for yourself:

Oh but that wasn't all for The Bradys. May I present...

The Bradys:

One can only hope a 21st century Brady's remake (on the CW?) leads to a new reincarnation of this classic theme.